Kozak Talks Podcast
Ми знайомимо вас з українцями, які побудували тут неймовірне життя - підприємцями, професіоналами, громадськими лідерами та відомими українцями.
Їхні подорожі та інсайдерські поради покажуть вам, як боротися з викликами, відкривати можливості та реалізовувати свій потенціал - і все це з повагою до свого українського коріння.
Kozak Talks Podcast
Витривале серце українського боксера в Шеффілді
Уявіть, що ви втекли від війни, щоб знайти новий дім на боксерському рингу за тисячі кілометрів звідси.
Подорож Олександра з України до Великої Британії сповнена несподіванок - залишення свого життя позаду, проблеми притулку та несподівана сім'я, яку він знайшов у боксерському клубі Шеффілда. Його історія показує, як стійкість і спільна пристрасть можуть подолати будь-які перешкоди. Вона про український дух, силу спорту, що об'єднує, і тепло, яке можна знайти в найнесподіваніших місцях.
Звертайтеся або підписуйтесь Олександр Погодін
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Look, Oleksandr, let's start our podcast, episode 39. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Who are you?
Speaker 2:Good afternoon, oleksandr. Thank you for the question. I am a Ukrainian. I am proud of it, cool.
Speaker 1:In short, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 2:I am 34. I lived almost my whole life in Chernivtsi, Ukraine. There was a period when I was boxing for the boxing club Panhellenion. I was invited and I spent live with our family in England.
Speaker 1:How was your trip to the? It wasn't hard, because when you go for a month it can't be hard.
Speaker 2:I collected summer stuff, threw the car and a competition. I took my children. I have a big car, 8 seats. I took my student. We went to Hungary, to the city of Eger, to the oldest tournament in Europe. We were there for a week. After that I went to Germany for another week and from London to Sheffield I was on the road for 12 days, with pauses. I went to make a document.
Speaker 1:Why did you go to London?
Speaker 2:You mean to England? Yes, to England. I heard about this opportunity. I found out about Sheffield City Boxing Club and Brandon Wambleton, head coach, online. Maybe you need cooperation. He wrote yes. He even asked me to work. He wants to take me for a month, even for 6 weeks, if I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 1:Let's go back. You come to Great Britain. Yes, I came to Great Britain. You came to Great Britain, but you came to London. This is when the war started, right. Yes, it was already during the 6th month of the war. Did you know anyone there in London? Or is when the war started right? Yes, it was already during the sixth month of the war. Did you know anyone there in London? Or did you not know anyone at all?
Speaker 2:No, how did you get to London? Why London? Why Great Britain, especially on Facebook, to see if someone could accept Ukrainians through the program given by the British government. Someone wrote to me, some more, some less. We had a conversation with London, a family of two doctors. They gave us a separate house right here in London, a guest house next to them. But we said frankly that we live in Chernihiv, we go to basements, we have air anxiety, but already during the same way as the front line, they had another family, 5-6 children, 3-4 children, and they were in danger. They said sorry, but you understand. We said yes, no problem. And then we found out a woman from Sheffield wrote to us that she was ready to give us her house in Wales, and how did she find you?
Speaker 2:On Facebook and Instagram. Did you write to her on Facebook? I wrote a post that we are a family from Ukraine and want to get to Great Britain Photos, and that's it.
Speaker 1:At that time, you were still in Ukraine. I was in Ukraine, yes, and she wrote you a message and told you to come to Ukraine.
Speaker 2:She told me look, I don't speak English at all, my wife speaks a little. We called each other on FaceTime or Skype and we talked. She even invited her Polish friend to translate it for me. Ukrainian and Polish are much closer. Do you understand Polish? No, but Poles understand us. I was in many Polish competitions. I understand some words. I think Polish is much closer to our language than the aggressor language. With our language it turns out that we communicated and that's it.
Speaker 2:She agreed here is your house. There is such a territory, a mini football field for children and so cool. Look the ocean from the window and, on the other hand, the mountains. This is their house for rest. You live alone. But we already called once times and she said Oksana, look, I see that you are such an active family because we did a lot of things during the war. You will be very sad here, really sad. And she said I promise you that you will not think. I promise you that I will find you a person here in Sheffield to whom you can come to". I said okay, thank you. And she called me later and said I found her. This was our sponsor in England. I didn't know her either. She is German has lived in England for 20 years. Her name is Eva.
Speaker 2:She wanted to take a Ukrainian, a Ukrainian that is one maximum mother with a child. And here she is, offered us and she is shocked because we have five. I say we have four children, we have three, but we will not. We will not. We have two adults, four children, but we will not about it. And we started talking and she said I have a lot of visa. The first permit came to us in five days and the last one in 13 days. We already received this permit, but we think, well, now the war will end. Maybe try, even if the children are not at school, to make documents and if, god forbid, the front line is closer. Then we will be able to go, save the lives of the children and leave In the summer. We decided to go. That's how it happened.
Speaker 1:And you left Ukraine, but you didn't go to Lekotan right away.
Speaker 2:I went to the Hungarian competition with a boxer. Then he stayed in the national team with the team. I went to my mother's in Germany because we didn't see my mother. She was supposed to come in April but there was already a war. I told her not to come. We haven't seen my mother for a year. But we saw our mother, our children, our grandmother, and from there we come to England and our sponsor, eva, who made the documents for us. She negotiates with her friend to call him Dror. By the way, I was with him today. He is from Israel. He also has a big problem in his country. He is a volunteer there. He lives in London but he always travels to Israel. We stopped in his place. He didn't know English. He accepted us. We lived in London for two days. We walked around London a bit because it was like the capital of the Britain.
Speaker 2:But this is the first time you've been to the UK.
Speaker 1:What was your impression you came to the UK for the first time. Was it sunny? Yes, it was sunny, I was surprised.
Speaker 2:I remember these moments. I associated London with the fog and rain. For 6-7 days I come and it's sunny, hot, the weather was so nice, in general, everything was fine. You didn't get there. This was our first summer.
Speaker 2:I was shocked because it was so hot that we wanted to look for a pool In Sheffield. It was very hot. We had a garden and we were pouring water with a hose. It was so hot that it seemed to me that it was hotter than in Ukraine at that time, although it was the same. Somewhere it was very hot, then cold, then hot again and it jumps like that. But the heat that I was surprised by that summer. I say, well, there is rain, then the sun. It changes, rain, sun, but the heat is so specific and I had such an impression.
Speaker 2:Then we went for a walk in London. This is not my first trip abroad, but it was after the war. You know a little. Without the sirens, without the basements, without these elevations at night, when you are on the 9th floor, we still live near the airport and all the first flights were to the airport and from these were going down, up and down. We were relaxing a bit and then we went to Sheffield in two days and we arrived in Sheffield on Friday, and on Saturday morning I went to volunteer at this club.
Speaker 1:So you arrived in Sheffield in two days, right, you were in London. You arrived in Sheffield, right, yes, and the next day you were in London. You came to Sheffield to that woman, right, yes? And the next day you were already looking for her.
Speaker 2:No, no, before I was in Ukraine, I found a club through Facebook. She told me you're a boxer, that there was a boxing club 100 meters away and you were in Ukraine and studied this club. They take kids from the homeless families, they take them from the streets. They develop amateur boxing. They develop professional boxing. Brandon has an MBA degree from the UK. This is a sign that he is investing a lot in the development of the region and the club. I write to him on Facebook that I am from Ukraine and I plan to come to Sheffield for 6 weeks. I would like to have some kind of cooperation. Are you interested? He says yes, I am interested.
Speaker 2:At this moment, I am going to France with one of my students, to the World Gymnasium 63 countries and this student he does very little. Why did I touch on this topic? Because there to be on the podium. It was his first time in the national team. Our team was very strong. We had a lot of events. We were in the same situation with Azov. We were everywhere. Azov support Azov. Photos from the national team, from the national team, from the national team, from the national team, from the national team, from the national team, from the national team from the national team, from the national team from the national team from the national team from the national team from the national team, from the national team from the national team from the national team, from the national team, from the national team, from the national team from the national team from the national team from the national team from. We joined with posters saying that the safe is Azov. That's how it was in France. We played a patriotic role, our entire team. We had guys from Donetsk and Luhansk which had been occupied for a long time. That's the moment.
Speaker 2:And during this time we were talking to Brandon. He took a letter to the council and his club. He wrote to me at work that he asked me to come to a six-week exchange of experience between Ukraine and England. He sent me this letter, although I didn't need it, but he gave me an official letter. I arrived and why did I arrive? On Friday evening I arrived. Our dear Eva covered the table, signed all. Nika, zhanna, oleksandr where is everything? I signed everything and showed the area where the hall is. On Saturday I wrote to Brandon that I was already in Sheffield. He said come on Saturday at 10. Hello, my Name Alex Enough, and he took me to himself. I started volunteering with children, adults, and he understood my experience. What did he see in you? I don't know what, because it's better to ask him. I saw in him with time that he loves children very much. I am close to that.
Speaker 2:It's his gym right and I having experience understand that only strong people are good. An evil person cannot be strong, but he is very good. Then I saw with a lot of time that he is professional Because we have, in principle, in Ukraine there are many professional coaches. In England there is aers who have won 100 fights and so on, and here you can never even be a coach. And then going to other gyms I realized that he is professional for Ukraine and for he is high level If you compare it like that. And it became very comfortable for me.
Speaker 2:I even remember the moment we return from the next sparring and I stop him right on the steps. I stop him and say, Brandon, I want to tell you something. You know, we were in a very famous gym in the Yorkshire region. I remember that moment and I said to myself I was very lucky to meet you, because if I had been in another gym and understood that the head coach, the owner of this gym, if he is a coach because the owner can not be a coach, he is lower than me in terms of knowledge it would be difficult for me. But I see many gyms. I am pleased that you are a professional in your field.
Speaker 1:You were engaged in boxing in Ukraine and came here. What is the difference between boxing in Ukraine and in the UK? Have you noticed the difference For a long time? What's the difference?
Speaker 2:I probably noticed it when I was invited to both In-On Boxing and GB Boxing Systematic.
Speaker 1:Explain. I don't understand what you mean.
Speaker 2:In England they don't work in a rush of results, but on systematicality. That is, they have a result and they improve it. They have no failures. We also have systematicality in Ukraine, but for some reason it happens. So I am now evaluating the Olympic cycles. As you understand, it's been four years. Well, because it's for amateur boxing. Only this way you can understand boxing. One of our Olympics is the first in the world and the other Olympics is in the 30th. I'm just saying what you understand. And in England they are constantly in the top 5, top 3, top 5, top 3, top 2. Since 1980, they have been here all the 1980. They don't have these jumps and this leads to its result.
Speaker 2:Secondly, in Ukraine, only the last couple of years, professional boxing league and professional boxing promot thanks to promoters, and here every boxer who is an amateur boxer understands that winning the European, european World or Olympic Games is not the first step.
Speaker 2:The first step is to become a professional and helped you to live. That is, it must be your job. In Ukraine, even now maybe, it feels like 50-90% of boxers and in England it feels like 95%. That is, they understand that you need to run social networks. They understand that you need to develop your own brand in the first place. They understand that you need to communicate because brand. They understand that you need to communicate Because in the future you will sell them tickets and it will be your first fee, because if you are not a high-level boxer, you did not win the GB England Boxing European Championship. You will work with a promoter on the terms of how the tickets. Your only task is to be top and they pay you salary and you earn and this is very much set on such rails that 90% of amateurs are trying to become professional and in our country, if we take the last 3-5 years, out of 100% of boxers, 3% of them are trying to become professional.
Speaker 1:Why is that? Is it because of the investment?
Speaker 2:No, because it wasn't developed enough. Our president of the professional league, mikhail Zavyalov, started developing it for the first time. It was quite difficult. There was no support from the state, no support from the sponsors. He developed it himself and now it has reached the point when it has started to develop quite actively. But in these lost years, look, olexandr we as Ukrainians can learn a lot from the British.
Speaker 1:We have a lot of Ukrainians who came here who can learn a lot from the British, but what can the British learn from Ukrainian boxing? Can you tell us? Yes, I can tell you, because I train in Sheffield, in Sheffield City Boxing.
Speaker 2:Club and people come to me for 2 hours distance. They come for 2 hours training, 2 hours going, 2 hours training, 2 hours back, 6 hours.
Speaker 1:What do they see in you as a trainer without evaluation? I'm talking about the difference.
Speaker 2:English. Boxing develops individuality. It feels like a boxer and that's how it should be shown with the basics To show your individual skills in boxing. You put a base for him, you put him in the frame and then these skills disappear because there are frames. He knows that this is how it should you want. And so if we talk about the school teams, it's the first team of the school in which the European Championships take place, and then juniors and then the youth. All the teams always said we had such a competition that at the European Championships the first place was always the most common, always the most common England and Ukraine. Or I'll tell you for the first, second, third place, fourth, that is, they always have competition. The most common competition was between England and Ukraine.
Speaker 2:It was always hard for our boxers because they were very uncomfortable. They were a little bit rough, a little bit uncomfortable. It was hard for them. We were trained to be able to do it, but they are not comfortable. In my case, why do people come to me? Has results, but he understands that this base will give him better development. I have never asked, frankly speaking, why I am. Maybe you should ask yourself.
Speaker 1:I can ask myself this question when I open my boxing academy.
Speaker 2:Why me? I'm working in another club, I'm in this team it's very satisfied with and I put my best effort and energy into this team. What do the British think about English and Ukrainian? But it's on a high level. Thanks to Volodymyr Vitaly Klitschko, olexandr Usik, denis Berinchik, who became the second at the last fight in Poland when he fought Dubois Usik, he beat the British again. Thanks to Vasyl Lomachenko Derevyanchenko, andri Denis Birinchik, serhii Derevyanchenko are doing now. They popularize boxing. They understand that a Ukrainian is a boxer If a Ukrainian is a boxer. They make this parallel and it's thanks to them and because the Klichkis laid the foundation for this.
Speaker 1:Why do the Klichkis know so well? Because they trained in Riemann. What's the reason? Look, they were champions for 10 years. How can you not know them?
Speaker 2:Look at the fights between Vitaly Klitschko and Luis. I'm saying this while I'm standing. We know the result Vitaly Klitschko will lose, but after that fight everyone thinks he's the winner. Remember when he jumped into the pool and his doctor took his blood and said where am I ready? Everyone saw that it was the Ukrainian spirit, that it was a Cossack who was ready and wanted to win. If we talk about the financial benefits, then Vitaly lost more than Lewis.
Speaker 1:And he thanked him and said how did Lewis beat him? It's respect.
Speaker 2:Yes, and that's why Vitaly and Volodymyr Klitschko are the first professional boxers who have recommended Ukraine, recommended Ukrainian boxing, to the whole world. Everyone remembers it, but not everyone says it, but it's true. And after them there was the Golden Team. There were Oleksandr Rusyk, vasily Lomachenko, sholostyuk Birinchik Many of our boxers who showed a colossal result in 2008 and repeated it in 2012 when it was in London. That is already. Then everyone saw what Ukraine is and Ukrainian boxing and really the English remember that from the Olympic Games in 2012, how Ukrainians support, how they fight and who are Ukrainians and what is boxing for Ukrainians.
Speaker 1:Okay, olesan, let's go a little bit. You are already a head of the team. You are starting to train and volunteer in it, but then you start working in it, right? How did he see you that he wanted to give?
Speaker 2:you a job. I don't know, you don't know, I don't know. Well, it probably played a lot of factors. I was giving up. I was in the state sector, I was the head of the youth and social projects of the youth, but when I came to England I was not ashamed to clean the vacuum cleaner. I was not ashamed to engage in inclusion with people, not only because I have a high level and I can only engage with high-level boxers. No, children are children. Adults are adults. Health, amateur, amateur, professional, maybe because I was giving up. Why was I giving up? Because in Ukraine I had to work here and there, a lot of everything, and in England I did not want to. I had a lot of time and I gave him boxing. I gave him 25% in Ukraine and 75% in the other country. Here I gave him 25% in boxing.
Speaker 2:I was one of the books of 7 habits of highly effective people. There is a moment the businessman will understand me. It's a man with eight legs. If there is a man with eight legs in the team the boss of the team, the owner he relaxes and the smart one values it very much. Because this man with eight legs, it closes all the moments that it did not reach the owner. When I was in my projects I valued such people. It was hard to find them, hard to keep them and I, having experience in leadership positions, I tried to be this supervisor for Brandon.
Speaker 1:How it will sound in English Catalyst, the person who covers all topics to avoid the owners.
Speaker 2:I would even say supervisor.
Speaker 1:I just don't know. How did you learn English? Did you only study boxing? Didn't you go to college?
Speaker 2:Look at me. I started working since the second month. Started working as a volunteer a month before.
Speaker 1:A month as a volunteer, and then you started working as a volunteer If you are interested.
Speaker 2:I can share my experience with Ivan. I think many of our viewers will be surprised by my work experience, but officially I started working as a working in his company from the second month.
Speaker 1:You loved to do it because you did it in Ukraine. Right, you wrote to him even when you were in Ukraine. Yes, it's not like you came to London, to England, and then started writing to him. You could have said that you did preparation before that.
Speaker 2:I couldn't work in government or become an MP without English.
Speaker 1:Yes, I understand.
Speaker 2:I understand. I love boxing and I thought that maybe I should look for it first. If I want to do sales or go into politics or work in the government, it's the first thing I need to know.
Speaker 1:Yes to be in the council or in the government?
Speaker 2:What is the language? Well, yes, right, and in boxing, without a language, just because I can show correctly, I can be at least at the first level. Right, and given that I have 149 fights, I organized boxing events and I was one of the first to organize paid boxing events, Because in Ukraine everything is free, and I organized where people came and paid. That is, I have experience.
Speaker 1:But you see, when you pay you are valued right, because when you always do free things. People came to me without a nickname and said what are?
Speaker 2:you doing? It was over. I already had a choice of what and how I could operate the numbers. They said what are you doing't want to say that one of us is more popular than the other. I just want to give you some numbers. I have a lot of papers. I do live broadcasts. I think for you and me it's not a secret. We have approximately 100% who visit our free boxing events, but 5% of people are not connected to boxing. It's not mom and dad, not friends, but just people who saw it and decided to buy it. 5% Look, I have 78% on the website who see boxing for the first time and who pay, and only 22% are friends, acquaintances. And now let's open the broadcast and see how many people watched it. You don't do live broadcasts. It's expensive, I understand, but to do it you need to collect tickets.
Speaker 2:To collect them in big buildings, you need to pay rent, you need light and it costs money but after that.
Speaker 2:as you can see, these numbers are a question for me. Who is more popularizing boxing? I am also an amateur boxer. I was a senior coachk at the Ukrainian championship when we lived in the military high school and then a six-rocket plane flew three kilometers from us. So what do I mean? They have to do their job here as representatives of this sport. These are the people who came to me then. Then they would have changed. I mean, I have to do this work, but I want to develop some other direction where people will be involved more who were not involved before.
Speaker 1:That was our mission, our organization, our promotion, and it was successful. We finished boxing on the 10th of December. We had them is international, where 10-12 national and English people come and train with you. What are your further plans? What do you want to do? We organized rallies, marches, someone took money, someone volunteered.
Speaker 2:Everyone had their own direction. Our Ukrainians in London motivated us very much and from our city, the city of Chernivtsi, ksiusha Malecka, who I think all Ukrainians in London know this because it is the most epic and most interesting action that she does here in London. I watched it and I thought, well, it's even more beautiful and I'll tell you more. She gave us a lot of staff from London to make it look like we were doing it. We organized five such marches. I was involved in organizing them. I gathered people, organized five of them. After that I understood that it would take a little longer than a month and I had to make a choice. And still we had Pavlo who said that he would be in charge of the front. I said that I would help, but I just couldn't help this foundation organization. I started to develop my own brand.
Speaker 2:I have a business plan to open a boxing academy in Sheffield A new format that I don't know yet in Sheffield and, I think, in England. I have been to many places, we have traveled a lot Britain, not only England, but I think that in Britain there will be a hall where there will be a place for international amateur tournaments, cups, boxcube as it is popularly said here. This will be a place where local professional fights will take place. This will be a place where we will deal with the management of boxers. This will be a promotion, including this will be a matchmaker. It will be the opening of workshops for coaches, where we will teach coaches, and the base for camps as amateur boxing cooperation with a business plan and there are two options for, through boxing, that they have achieved something in life whatever goal they set and the option is to, you can do international boxing in Sheffield.
Speaker 2:I heard that you have already visited are a lot of Ukrainian fighters who have their own gyms. I don't know any of them yet.
Speaker 1:I know some coaches.
Speaker 2:Denis Bill is from London. He is also Ukrainian.
Speaker 1:Do you know, george, he also works out. There are a boxers Maybe, so.
Speaker 2:I have one star international level and I am now taking a annual training on level 3 of English boxing. Regarding who has level 3 of English boxing from Ukrainians, I think I will be the first, because it was a selection of 30 coaches in Great Britain and all the Polish coaches selected 30 coaches A year of training. I think there are coaches who have level 1, and maybe someone has level 2., but I went to level 3, and, god willing, there will be only 4 levels, although IABA Star is higher than 4, but you know, the English people like it their own. Alexander, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:Alexander. Look, then you start working. You develop. People come to you for 2-3 hours to train with you. What reasons we don't know. You have to ask people why you come here. You develop, you look at different qualifications. You think almost a business plan. How many months, how many years have you been here?
Speaker 2:Well, look, I arrived on June 17, 2022 in London, almost two years.
Speaker 1:Sorry on June 15, 2022.
Speaker 2:On June 17, I arrived in Sheffield and on June 18 was waiting for Shebol in the gym in 2018.
Speaker 1:You've been here for almost 2 years and you've made such progress.
Speaker 1:I don't know who else is involved in boxing here, but I think you're the first in the media. No Well, let's say, to be so active…. You run social media Facebook, instagram. Look to develop in these countries. You said yourself to develop in these countries social media. Like Boxer or even Podcaster, blogger, you need social media, not only social media, but also to go to different networks, tell stories, make collaborations. You have big subscribers, I have a small one. There should be a collaboration Constantly, constantly, constantly. I remember hashtags. You know you can advertise when people see the value. You know you were in Ukraine. You took money for the tickets and you had a reason for taking money, but people knew about you Because you did.
Speaker 1:Many Ukrainians told me, sashko, that there is no such thing in London. I said how can you do that? Just create it. One Ukrainian lives in Devon or Coventry. He writes to me and says I want to do what you do, not podcasts, but interviews. I say look, the most important thing is to invest in light. The microphone is the most important thing, the microphone and just record. You get to the point where you say I'm tired of cameras on my phone. I need to have cameras, but they will also think who will cut you? Just do it.
Speaker 1:I'm thinking of doing podcasts with successful Ukrainians who live in Great Britain for a long time and also who recently came here and are very interested in doing something in Britain. Why? Because we are strangers here. This is not our country. I've been living here for 25 years, but Britain is not my country. I was born in Ukraine but I have lived here for many years. I like Britain. I have a golden hand in Britain and look, I'm sitting with you now on the floor in the room. You tell a very interesting story. I am even an English-Ukrainian. I can learn a lot from you and also Ukrainians listeners, viewers who will listen to this podcast will learn from you. There are Ukrainians who want to learn boxing, gymnastics and so on. They are interested in boxing. They are more interested in the Ukrainian community, but they think that Ukrainians are like Cossacks. They fight, fight, do not surrender. Many Ukrainians came here who are very ambitious people.
Speaker 1:I have worked with Ukrainians for two years. My life has changed. I can say that I get up earlier in the morning, at 5 am. I have my own work. I have two jobs, but I always work. I always think about what content to throw. I know almost all Ukrainians here, all Ukrainians who do content bloggers, bloggers, podcasters. I've known you for a long time. I remember when I wrote to you I said let's go to the podcast. Maybe I wasn't ready, maybe you weren't ready, but look how you are. I'm really proud. Thank you, sasha, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry for the fact that you are not only two years old, but there are Ukrainians who live more than 5, 10, 20, 30 years and they don't have it. Look, every person has their own values. You understand. You like what you do. Don't give up. Make a move. I think you can open the hall as you want. The head of the driver can do it in London, no problem, you can do it in France. I want you to do it. Don't give up, and thank you for the offer to make a podcast on Koza Talks.
Speaker 2:Alexander, thank you for the invitation. You know, when I was offered to do it, I didn't want to stay. I thought that this offer was not for me because there are out. I understand that if I open the hall, I will live in two countries In Ukraine and, in reality, ukrainian people will be very popular if they start providing the service that we have in Ukraine and we feel it. Do not focus on Ukrainians, focus on the English. All you need is to provide the service that you received at home. You can buy anything you want A cafe, a bakery, a restaurant, a beauty salon, a building If you can afford the service you felt at home, even if you don't have enough money. The British value it. Sorry, it may not sound bad, but the service here is at a low level, or it's high, but the price is very high.
Speaker 1:I understand why one Ukrainian told me it was Olya. She said that there is a service but you have to pay for it.
Speaker 2:Yes, this middle niche is free and we have experience. We have a desire, because we all almost got bored when we came here. We have motivation and if we give it, the English will appreciate it. I'll tell you more. The English can appreciate a person, just a person, from any country. I was surprised. I was invited to a Yorkshire camp for the first month with my minimum English, but I you work with different groups, not with your own boxers. Plus, there is cooperation with another trainer. I meet with an English trainer. He understands that my level is a little higher than his and he doesn't start something there because my English is bad. He supports me so much. He told me so many compliments. He was so happy that he said I gained so much experience. And I was so surprised.
Speaker 2:In Ukraine, if a colleague tells you that you are good, not just that, you are amazing, beautiful, what job you are doing. Wow, wow. Give me your number. I want you. Never. I was so surprised. I realized that it was all played out in them. I didn't like it, but I saw that there is a part of it, especially hello, how are you? And your answer is not interesting.
Speaker 2:But this is just the first stage. And then, if they value a person and its quality, if this person has quality, if they develop them, they understand that it's cool. We talked to Ukrainians. We have a lot of friends now. They appeared in Sheffield and when we are with them we feel like we are at home. Wherever we sit was all at home. It was a discussion. They say they are among themselves.
Speaker 2:And then I only talked to my husband, vasyl. He called him, he talked to Valentina, his wife, and they couldn't understand why they loved Ukraine so much, but they have been living in England for 20 years. And then he asked me and he kind of forgot what Ukraine was like, because I haven't forgotten in two years Plus we go there once every two months, my wife and I, because there are children in Ukraine too, and I say you know, the first thing I'll tell you is that our country does not value personality. I am very sorry for that because we have such a potential in each area, but the system itself and I touched on this became a supervisor at this metal factory where he had 100 people as a manager. I can't learn in Cambridge for the owner's money. Where can I learn?
Speaker 2:Brandon paid me for the first and second level of English boxing, all the way to living, to training, everything. I didn't even pay for it All the DBS checks, all the first aid, all the training, my qualifications. He paid me for my qualifications. I just said that I don't need the third level Because if I go there in three months I will not be comfortable that you paid for it. I may not go for two years and not open the gym, but if it happens I will be ashamed of you that I was not happy with my decision. He wanted to pay, but I said you gave me a job. I am grateful to you. I have a chance now. I will close this issue. I will be with you for at least 3-5 years, but I will know that this is for my own money. I was shocked, to be honest.
Speaker 1:You tell a lot. Many Ukrainians hear from the British. I will tell you he wrote a book about Ukraine. Millions of people went to the UK, europe, canada, different countries. They are learning their skills, bringing them to Ukraine. When the war ends, there will be less of them. They will learn to learn Ukrainian to develop. Ukraine is very technology, it, very developed. You have DIA there. I said that DIA is a good platform, but before I ask you this question, I wanted to ask you give smiles to your loved ones and people around you.
Speaker 2:Because we are the face of our country and these English people who see us are always the providers of Ukraine in England. That's the first thing. Secondly, there are Ukrainians or there are English people your friends or other people around you who are looking for a place to invest. Maybe there are people who have heard our story and want to become my partners, Because, first of all, I'm looking for a partner and a strong team around me, Maybe someone higher than me and make a franchise. I also think about it. Maybe it's you, Maybe there is a sponsor who wants to help Ukrainians Ukrainian boxing, or Englishmen and children who sit on the street, don't know what to do, or who sit in gadgets, in phones, and we want to take them away from us and, by the cost of sports, give them health and some direction in life, Because it's very difficult to live without a goal, and the coach is such a profession that gives a direction, a goal, and every morning you understand why you wake up at 5 am.
Speaker 2:Sasha, you know that too right, you know Alexander, and maybe it's you and in general, I just want to wish each of us, regardless of our situation, around you it's not easy for everyone, and I think for Alexander and for you. Try to give the world positive energy and God, the world, will return this positive energy to you. It's hard. I often think to myself. You know on the road you go and I think, well, I gave away the negative and the negative will return somewhere, but you have to keep yourself Constantly. Deal with self-development.
Speaker 1:What did Ukraine teach you that Britain hasn't taught you yet?
Speaker 2:Well, it about providing services. Ukraine is at a high level. Ukraine taught me everything I had and will have. Even here in England, I use the experience I had. I am grateful to Ukraine. I am grateful to the people who surrounded me. You know, there were always people in my life who supported me in different periods of time, and every evening I try to remember each of them. There are many of them, and I remember them and I am grateful. And I repeat once again that I am very grateful to those people to Igor Vasilievich, my close friend, to Pasha Rudamyotova, to Viktor Georgievich and to my father, Because I began to understand my father better at his age, at my age of 35, having my own children. We were always together and now we see each other only once every three months and I understand his wisdom, his strength, his… well, his wisdom is probably this, and I miss him very much my father, because we call friends, write to my father, we talked to him this morning, but I don't have enough of such people here in Sheffield.
Speaker 1:Although Brandon replaced them, Vasya is a friend with whom I can talk, but such people?
Speaker 2:I don't remember when the war started.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You understand your father better than your father when you're an adult.
Speaker 2:Even when I'm here now, at home it's not like that we could have, don't have to call each other for weeks or be together every day for a week. But here I understood it better. I think what England taught me was the best systematicality. I wasn't that systematic in Ukraine, although I always had a year, three, five years, but England gave me the understanding that it was necessary 100%. I was given a service. Ukraine taught me better than England.
Speaker 1:What did Britain teach you?
Speaker 2:Systematic. You don't have to be shy about any job. I knew it in Ukraine. I've never done it, but I was a little ashamed to do such a poorly qualified job here. I did it. I did it for a short time, but I did it differently. I would do it in Ukraine only because many people know me. Many people don't know. But I will give an example.
Speaker 2:I worked as a landscape designer for a week, but I worked, I dug, and in this film by Grishkov, the Ukrainian director, called Satisfaction, there is a conversation like in our film. Almost the whole film is a conversation between two men a whole night in a restaurant. They drink and he prepared 15. By the way, I recommend this movie to every man. Why to a man? Sorry, it's not some gender-neutral stuff. It's about men's topics and he chooses topics that they have to talk about with this person during the drinking of various alcoholic beverages. And one of the topics was how you earned your first money. And he says I spent one summer there, went to the factory, worked at the factory.
Speaker 2:I was so I earned these costs, but they were so heavy that I didn't even want to spend them. Well, you know, I regretted it. I regretted it on myself. It was so hard for me when I worked in the landscape for a week. Such heavy costs I always worked as a head, but here I just don't have English I can is not much reason and I left. The first day was fine. We did the altanko. It was not difficult and interesting because you need to include a little reason and the owner saw that I was not smart erudite. I can't speak English, but I give some advice, that I have erudition and when I did I carried stones. I understood that it was hard. There were also some other jobs that I did here, but never in Ukraine. But here I had such an experience.
Speaker 2:I've always studied in Ukraine and everyone was laughing at me. They said you have one education, then another, then third, then fourth. You collect diplomas. But in England you understand that you have to do it. It's normal to take one education, work, see another development, to switch to another education and work here and in this direction, to use the previous education. And you have to constantly study, study, never stop, because I even more say I had when I was in school. I was 27 years old.
Speaker 2:My teacher and a close mentor friend, igor Vasilievich, who was my mentor told me to study sports. I was not a student before because before 2008,. If you had the title of Master of Sports of Ukraine, it was equalized. But then it was changed. But I wrote to one university, to another and there was no more and he said you have to go. You have to go. I refused.
Speaker 2:He gave me a gift, paid half a year for the study, said go on yourself, but I give you a start. Go, for which I am very grateful to you, igor Vasilyevich, for this start, because it helped me a lot in something and people somewhere dared to say what are you constantly doing? Learn, learn. And I say, because it somehow comes out, I start working in one area, then another door opens and in order to develop in this area, I need to have a foundation education. That's how I got into the Academy of the President of Ukraine of State Administration and Administration. The government and administration are the main factors that make it possible to get a job. In England it's a normal thing to study and get a job.
Speaker 2:You get 40-50 years of education and you get new skills.
Speaker 1:What advice would you give to Ukrainians who are now on the territory of Great Britain, and also to those Ukrainians who want to come to Great Britain?
Speaker 2:Communicate. Don't be shy, don't think about your language, just take it, speak it through a translator. Our connections make us you. The more you have this connection, move. I was digging. I was digging. I understood that it was not the right place, but I knew that every time I dig, I do something. So move and God will give you a direction. He will tell you where to go.
Speaker 2:But the main thing is that you did not stop this moment of transition of war, war, grief, trouble. It is stifling and you want to hide it so that no one can touch you. And this is the worst thing that can happen. And you see, it's already the second year and you have to throw it away. You have to go, do something. Go to meetings, get acquainted there, go to work in a cafe, in McDonald's, it doesn't matter, just move and this energy of movement will tell you the direction that will be yours. And then you will say it happened in one second, but you have prepared everything for this time so that this second happened. Don't forget Ukraine. Don't forget to find the opportunity to help, to volunteer. You can't find the person around you who can do it. Don't forget that we are from there. Don't forget that she gave us everything, and the one who you are at the moment Ukraine, your parents and your environment gave you all of that.
Speaker 1:Olexander, thank you very much for being on Kozatoxony podcast. How to find you Facebook? Where is it now?
Speaker 2:I started to develop TikTok and LinkedIn Not very professional yet because you have to deal with this professionally. I already have Instagram, which I divide time between. I don't have time for the other platforms yet, but I think I will be more professional with time. You know that each platform needs to be run separately. And I'm still one and for all, but it's wrong.
Speaker 1:Alexander, thank you very much for being on the podcast Kozatalks Today. You told your story in the UK. As you can say, not only do you adapt, but you are already growing in the country. Thank you, and thank you to all Ukrainians who listen to our podcasts and watching our podcast. Ukrainian people should subscribe to our Facebook and Instagram and also, if you are watching this podcast on YouTube, please subscribe to our YouTube channel, like, share and also leave your comments below. The last words I always say are Hold on, don't give up and just move forward. Glory to Ukraine.
Speaker 2:Glory to the heroes.
